Winter Lemonade

We are the kind of people who wait until the last minute to do things.
Not really.
But mostly.
And mostly when the things we need to do are really important.
Like sledding (and taxes).

You might call us procrastinators.
I choose to define it otherwise.
There is a certain kind of energy that comes with doing things at the last minute.
And doing things at the last minute provides a challenge, either to get it done at the same quality you would if you had spent more time or to make the best of what you've got.
Sometimes, waiting till the last minute takes the boring out of everyday tasks or things that have lost their luster, like snow related activities. 

Today we made the best of what we got.
We have been sledding this year (over Christmas break, because sledding with a three year old and a ten month old is not a job for one person. I don't care who you are.)
But we wanted to go again before all the snow melts.
So today was the day.
It is the first day that Diet Coke Papa is on Spring Break and the last day we will have snow on the ground, because this whole week is forecast  in the high 40's.

We packed a lunch and some hot chocolate, our sled, some firewood, extra warm clothes (because in our thawing brains it is still -72 degrees) and headed for the hills.
A park we had never been to, complete with a sledding hill, and warming house.
It was gorgeous!

An amazing feeling to breathe in the wild, open air, hear the bird calls, and feel the wind smack you in the face and snow fly all around you and make it's way into all the hermetically sealed seams of your snowsuit as you speed down the hill, grasping onto your blue plastic sled and your three year old for dear life. (NOTE TO SELF: a really good sled is on next year's Christmas list.)

Yeah,well.
 We had the wide white open and fresh air.
 Birds were everywhere and so was the sound of dripping melting snow.
It was magical.
Just not sled worthy.
(NOTE TO SELF: It has to be cold and snowy to sled. Like below 40 degrees.) 

But we are nothing if not great at making lemonade.
(I'll share a recipe sometime. Or maybe I should keep that a family secret?
There that suspense should keep you coming back to the blog.)

Anyway, turns out, wet, drippy snow makes for a slow, slow, very, very slow ride.
 Like slug slow.
Definitely not exciting enough to keep a toddler interested in anything but the warming house, where Diet Coke Papa had built a raging fire designed to keep us warm from...
the already warm temperatures causing us to sweat (a totally unfamiliar experience).

 And that's cool because let me tell you, this warming house is my new dream house! (Babe-O's too).

(Go ahead laugh. But, I am NOT kidding people. My dream is to live in a little log cabin in the middle of nowhere).

So after a few failed attempts at zooming down the hill on our butts, (and even Diet Coke Papa tried, because that's what you do when you have a torn hamstring)...

It got serious!

I am talking about Mama showing off her Olympic luge skills, like running starts, and belly sledding.

Even Babe-O tried! Note the disappointment in speed as he bows his head down toward the end of the ride.

You know what? We laughed, we played, we explored, we drank hot chocolate by a fire.

BEST sledding trip EVER.

And for some reason, during this panoply of my sledding and gymnastic abilities, I kept hearing my Dad’s voice,“Nothing embarrasses me.” He used to say this to us when we were kids after he had just done something potentially embarrassing but probably mostly intended to make us laugh.
It’s true.
I am not embarrassed.
I am not embarrassed that I don't know enough about sledding to have known that we wouldn't be able to really call what we did sledding.
I am not embarrassed that I "slugged" down that hill on my belly (and at times I was as terrified as I would have been if I would have been flying).
I am not embarrassed.
Not one bit.

Because Babe-O and Diet Coke Papa, even Babe-ala laughed their guts out. And we came home warm, happy, full of endorphins, with sore cheeks and smelling like campfire (oh, we LOVE that smell). 

So there you have it.
Procrastination pays.
Or maybe it’s more like: Have fun where you are with what you’ve got.

Because YOU are exactly what they need
YOU with all your procrastinating tendencies, with your tangled hair and smelly arm pits,
YOU with your unending supply of patience, peanut butter and jelly, and hugs
YOU and ONLY YOU can make them laugh so loud the birds fly out of the trees
YOU and ONLY YOU hold the secret recipe to THE BEST Lemonade on the planet!

And now I can honestly say I have had enough winter AND I can't wait to sled again with my Fam-O!